Off the top of the head:
-Alex Smith. I'm actually not mad at his play. Don't get me wrong, I think he is missing some opportunities and our offense is fairly boring aside from a guy named Adrian Peterson at the moment. But what he does well does benefit us. His bad throws are so bad the safeties can't even figure them out. He protects the ball fairly well. He avoids pressure. He uses his legs. And he doesn't let the pressure of a big moment cripple him into a giant mistake. I can appreciate the things that he does bring almost as much as I loathe some of the plays he misses. But good defense and cautious QB play isn't a bad formula. So as long as the D keeps it up, Smith isn't a terrible fit.
-Adrian Peterson. That's all I need to say. But I will say more. He's on pace for around 1,200 yards this season and somewhere in the neighborhood of 8 TD. If he gets to 1200 he'll be the 17th Redskin to do it in a single season. And the first 1,200 yard Redskin rusher since 2013 when Alfred Morris did it.
-Jordan Reed on the short stuff was fun to watch yesterday. Paul Richardson has come up big a few times for us, too. I actually like our receivers quite a bit.
-My huge criticism of our defense in the first few weeks was our linebackers... OLB and ILB... against the run. Our inside backers were playing soft and not downhill and our outside backers weren't setting the edge all that well. But man has that changed the last three weeks. Brown and Foster are playing downhill and aggressive. And our OLBs are not letting the play get outside of them. It's been awesome to watch. I am BIG time impressed with the inside backers especially. They seemed to flip a switch over night. I don't know if it was a schematic thing or just they decided to be nasty sons of guns but they are balling.
-Daron Payne. Jon Allen. Matt Ioannidas.
-Tress Way. What a gritty performance. When your punter is a gritty son of a gun the offense and the defense has to be motivated to push themselves or face the wrath of being labeled as softer than the punter. I love Tress Way. He's an underrated aspect of our team. Shoutout to Hopkins, too, who has been pretty damn reliable for us. I know he missed yesterday, but that's gonna happen.
-D.J. ****ing Swearinger. Despite "better" players on the defense. He's probably our most valuable piece right now. He's not Sean Taylor. But he plays similarly. Just aggressive and all over the field. Best safety we've had since ST21 in my opinion.
-Norman has stepped up.
-The offensive line. AGAIN. They were awesome yesterday. Continuity and Shawn Lauvao. I'm going to keep trumpeting Lauvao because people here gave me a ton of **** every time I said he wasn't as bad as people think he is. Time and time again the guy just shows he gets it. He and Williams executed an awesome slip and pick up block on the DE on one play yesterday that let Trent get to the corner. It was beautiful.
-Despite all the positives, we do have to keep in mind it was ugly. This team is going to be ugly all season. And the Giants are a very, very bad football team at the moment.
-GOATS: I don't have any. While the team didn't look great yesterday, there was nothing that I saw that stood out as a bad set of plays or a terrible game. Playcalling/coaching included. Mistakes were made, but its football and that happens. But absolutely no one made those giant critical mistakes. That's my biggest takeaway from yesterday. The Skins won with some grit and discipline. That is the model for building a future.
Hail to the Redskins.

I didn't see a general next day thoughts thread, and i have a bunch so...
10 thoughts on the game.
1. The defense is VERY good. Good enough to carry the team, and that is good because they are having to right now.
There's NOTHING wrong with this.
Some facts:
In the last 4 games, they have beaten Aaron rodgers, cam Newton and their biggest rivals coming off their biggest win of the year. They have lost to Drew Brees.
They're getting better.
They are not just stuffing the run, they are STOMPING on it. Zeke went nowhere. McCaffrey and Cam, nowhere. Next up, Saquon.
I ain't scared. Are you?
2. Outside pressure finally showed up. Kerrigan had a great game, Smith had a great game. Prescott's pocket was crushed all day. That Cowboys OL? Whipped.
3. Pass defense.. i like that we have such confidence in our young corners.. but we need to get Stroman some help on the outside. He bit so hard on the double move he probably needs to get his teeth checked today. He's a rookie and a raw one at that.. getting him some playing time is good, but he needs to have some help. Any QB seeing him single up on the outside is going to feast.
Norman had a second strong game. DJ is a BEAST.
But they do like to play man up with a lot of confidence,, i like it, but it's feast or famine. If you CAN, great,, if not, it's gets exposed quickly and beaten badly.
they did sell out on quite a few blitzes yesterday, so the ability to bump and run with receivers is great, but needs consistency and a recognition of who needs help..
4. Shawn Lauvao.. well, what a difference he makes, huh? everyone hates him, but he's back and the Cowboys vaunted DL doesn't get nearly the pressure they would have if he had not been there. Smith had time. Smith had throwing lanes. AP had another big game.
The entire OL's game was up, and it's no coincidence that our 5 starters were all on the field and healthy.
5. TEs.. honestly, whoever is their coach needs to really work with them on their blocking. I get they are more pass catchers, but the damn job requires blocking on the line as well, and while i can forgive some,, Davis is just a liability in run blocking. He literally tackled AP in the backfield on a play that had a chance to get a first down in a key spot.. and their overall ineptitude in this area of their game is a glaring problem.
5. Alex Smith: Definitely needs to improve his accuracy. Totally missed Sprinkle for a TD, all on him. Just a bad throw. Had a couple of shots on that mystery drive to end the half that he missed Doctson deep when he was open.
I will give leeway in that is he still new to the offense, and has not had really any time to develop much continuity with any receivers.. yesterday, 3 of his wide receivers were out, replaced by guys who have been on the squad for only a couple of weeks total. His main target (Doctson) has been in and out of practices with injuries.
So, some understanding,, BUT, that patience is about up.
He ran out of bounds knowing he would not get the first down with a minute 40 to go and saved Dallas the TE they needed to get in position to tie the game.
OK, so some passing rust or some OL issues are one thing, flat out stupidity like that is not excused. He's supposed to be extremely smart,, well, that doesn't help his cause.
6. AP is a monster. Makes so much out of so little. Knows where holes are coming, sees EVERYTHING at ALL TIMES.
I sure hope Guice is in his hip pocket and taking notes.
7. Josh Doctson had one of his best games to date. He only had a few catches but he made some tough plays over the middle and took some hits. Showed me some toughness, and i was glad to see it. Small contribution, but a lot to see from it.
Smith overthrew him deep a couple of times when he was open... which brings me to
8. WTF was that garbage to close the half? No plan to get points, like watching a kid play Madden. A PRIME opportunity.. we deferred the kick, so we get it first in the second half. We HAVE the ball with a chance to score and then take the ball after the half,, which KILLED US SO MANY TIMES last year when others did it to us.
I get taking a couple of shots.. fact is Doctson was open at the 10 and Smith missed him deep.
But after a shot, take th yards.. get those next ten yards to get into FG position, then check the time and if you can take another shot. BUT GET INTO POSITION TO SCORE.
VERY frustrating.
9. Special teams had an OK day.. but i really would like to see them stop playing scared in the punt return game. Stroman is young, sure, but he's got huge spaces when he's fair catching punts. They let him return the final one and he did alright considering it was the best job of closing on him to Cowboys did. But wow,, they had shots at some decent yardage on returns if he's given some green lights. (And it's not just him. We're afraid to fumble, seem to fair catch everything going back to last year.)
10. 4-2 and a game and a half lead in the east after a very difficult portion of the schedule. I hear people complaining about the offense (and i did some above,) but overall, the positive is we have a solid defense and can run the ball. Teams have gone far with that.

The acquisition of Smith was a self serving, save my own ass, desperation move by Bruce Allen. That's it.
Allen knew he'd get a modicum of average ability and efficiency on dink and dunk and checkdown passes from Smith and just hope for enough wins to cover his ass. That's all.

Say what you want about Snyder the football guy, but he steps up with class when things are the worst for people close to the Redskins. He's loaned his plane to players who are in need, be it a death, or a natural disaster threatening a player's family. Retiring Rich's chair is a great honor not only for Rich's memory, but also to permanently establish roots to the era.
~Bang

Maybe this was too long ago, but a lot of Redskins fans thought Marty got raw deal. Sure, he started out 0-5, but he got the Redskins to 8-8. His team was ugly, boring, and often difficult to watch. Marty alienated his players, and tried to humiliate Darrell Green. By and large, his players hated him and did I mention that his offense looked horrible? Marty got the team back to respectability by playing defense and demanding his offense play a mistake free version of his favorite flavor, the only flavor of ice cream in his book, vanilla!
Now, fast forward nearly two decades, and Alex Smith is playing like Tony Banks while the defense around him grinds with that Martyball stinginess. Difference is, the team did not go 0-5 on route to .500. This team is actually winning out of the gate and is a more than respectable 5-2. Still, that offense is ugly. It is vanilla without nuts, sprinkles, chocolate sauce, and on many occasions, it even lacks a spoon. Did I mention it's ugly too? Still, people clamor for pretty. Fans shout like Redskins fans clamoring for the beauty of Jeff George! They want others to be jealous of the date on their arm and Jeff throws a gorgeous ball. He has the prettiest arm. He accumulates the sexiest of stats (for those about to say I'm mixing eras... shh... I know that the Germans invaded Pearl Harbor. Let me continue. I'm trying to get on a roll.)
When our one and only year of Martyball ended. The team demanded Baskin Robbins! We want 98 flavors! Well, they got what they asked for! The Germans invaded Hawaii and damn we looked good in Osaka! Rocky Road for everyone! No, not the ice cream, but a real rocky road with punctured tires and a busted radiator. Oh, how we missed our vanilla. We pined for Tony Banks (You go too far there). We imagined what year two of Martyball would have brought us! Imagine the glory of one and done in the playoffs or choking in the championship game!
Marty went on to do better things in San Diego, but in fairness to the Spurrier fans, Marty's records of not reaching the mountain's peak remained intact. Still, he led a very good team quite far, quite often. So, if you thought Marty deserved a second year or a second chance and you like teams that are tough all I'm saying is that there are worse things than a scoop of vanilla.
In conclusion, we know that Gruden isn't Marty. They don't have the same temperament. Gruden likes beautiful football. He craves gummi bears in his ice cream. We also know that Alex Smith is a better quarterback than Tony Banks. So, let's enjoy a little ugly for now. Let's revel in the painfully grotesque and boring for at least as long as we're winning. It's fair game to complain about losing after all. It's a fan's right to demand that everyone get fired or benched while we're losing. It just sounds premature to do it while the team just won three in a row. After all, it's possible that Martyball year 2 under the reins of Smith and Gruden might be a bit prettier and more dynamic. Oh, it'll probably still be ugly. It won't be the most thrilling date. When you date Alex Smith you don't get the thrill of the crazy chick who winds up keying your car and setting all your clothes on fire, but Alex Smith, ugly as he is, might just be the girl pretty enough to take home to meet mother.

Another huge game today, forcing and recovering a fumble on a QB sneak. Each week, he seems to have at least one highlight worth showing. He's had his ups and downs, but he plays his heart out during the best and the worst of our seasons. He's the one mainstay that we can expect to always give his best, and it shows on the field like today. I can't think of any player on the team more worthy of wearing Sean Taylor's old number.

Some of y'all are ****ing nuts. We beat the Panthers then beat the cowboys for the division and yall upset? That was a bad ass old school football game. Came down to mistakes, TOs and STs.
I totally called that game. Walk tall, were legit good.

Speaking of which, I just found an absolute gem of a quote from HHCD interview way back in 2014 - The whole article is brilliant by the way - demonstrates the legacy ST21 left on our new safety tandem - The last thing HHCD does before he takes the field each game is watch ST21 highlights. (as reported by WaPo - https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2018/10/30/redskins-new-safety-ha-ha-clinton-dix-grew-up-idolizing-sean-taylor/?utm_term=.f37c406b90fb )....
"Clinton-Dix, who wasn’t yet 15 when Taylor was murdered in his Florida home in 2007, described his admiration for the late Redskins safety in a 2014 Q&A with Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reporter Tyler Dunne. When asked if he could have dinner with any three people, dead or alive, Clinton-Dix said Taylor. “I don’t really have a two or three,” he added."